Joseph N. Muschel graduated from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in 1989. During his Fourth year at Einstein, Joseph chose to study Jewish medical ethics and was awarded a fellowship that enabled him to pursue these studies in Jerusalem. At that time, Joe became acquainted and formed a bond with the Schlesinger Institute - a bond which continued throughout his years of clinical training at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Toward the end of his second year at Columbia, Joseph was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the lung. He was then twenty-eight years old. After a four-year battle with cancer, Joseph died in July 1995.

Joe was unique. He was an outstanding physician and a deeply humane, compassionate, caring, and sensitive human being who placed the welfare of his patients above all other concerns. He was truly their advocate. Joe had a marvelous sense of humor and a joie de vivre that never left him, even through the darkest hours of his illness. Wise beyond his years, he was a living model of Torah existence in his humility, his middot tovot, and in his daily encounters with his patients and his peers. His tragic death at the age of thirty-two was a tremendous loss to klal Yisrael and to all who would have been so well served by this skilled and devoted doctor and this gem of a human being. May his short life continue to serve as an inspiration to all who knew him.

The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund is dedicated to the memory of Alisa Flatow, a 20 year old student studying in Israel killed in a terrorist attack in near the settlement of Kfar Darom on April 9, 1995. Alisa was in Israel to study her religion and to live among the Israeli people.

The Fund has been established to encourage others to follow in Alisa's footsteps by studying Judaism at schools in the State of Israel.

To qualify for a scholarship award, studies must be of a post-high school nature. Study can be in programs which earn college credits. (For instance, a student may attend a yeshiva and receive credits which may be applied to his degree program at a University.) Programs at Israeli universities combining secular and Judaic studies will be reviewed by the Fund's Committee to determine eligibility on a case by case basis.

The Fund is administered by a Committee consisting of members of Alisa's family and her community. Awards will be based on a combined scholarship and need basis. The intention of the Fund is for it to be especially valuable to those students showing academic promise in religious studies and the need for financial assistance to pursue study in Israel. The scholarship is open to men and women who are not currently in Israel.

The Cypess Family Foundation was created by Dr. Raymond Cypess, D.V.M, PhD, and Dr. Sandra Cypess, PhD, in recognition of their interest in promoting increased education and scholarship primarily on topics relating to ethics and Jewish education. With children who are personally involved in the larger areas of Halacha and medicine --Rabbi Joshua Cypess and Dr. Aaron Cypess-the Cypess Family's Foundation will also be able to count on them to serve as advisors and guides into the new areas of health research and its consequences for Jewish practices.